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Eleven charged in software counterfeiting case

LOS ANGELES (AP)  Prosecutors have charged 11 people in California, Texas and Washington state with conspiring to distribute more than $30 million of counterfeit computer software and products.

A federal indictment announced Thursday names four Southern California residents — Sanh Chan Thai, 52, of San Gabriel; Roger Le, 40, of Rancho Santa Margarita; Hung Trieu Lu, 42, of Walnut; and Victor Solano, 38, of Gardena. The indictment also named seven people from Texas, Washington and northern California, alleging various acts of trafficking in counterfeit products.

Prosecutors said the two-year investigation, dubbed Operation Digital Marauder, resulted in "one of the largest seizures of counterfeit software in the United States," according to a statement issued Thursday by the U.S. attorney's office.

FBI agents working in San Francisco and Austin, Texas, seized more than $56 million worth of counterfeit Microsoft, Adobe and Symantec products. Investigators also seized an industrial CD replicator and sophisticated printing equipment, the statement said.

Prosecutors called the scope of the case unprecedented.

"In one indictment, we have charged both the manufacturers who supplied the counterfeit items and the distributors who flooded the market with bogus goods," U.S. Attorney Debra Yang said in Los Angeles.

The defendants were scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 20 in Los Angeles. If convicted, they face potential prison sentences ranging from 15 to 75 years in federal prison, prosecutors said.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.